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Most Americans Say the Wealthy Should Pay More in Taxes: Poll

REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

By Amanda Becker, Reuters

October 11, 2017

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As President Donald Trump promotes a tax plan critics say would raise the federal deficit by slashing corporate rates and eliminating some taxes paid by the rich, some three quarters of Americans believe the wealthiest should pay more, Reuters/Ipsos polling shows.

Trump is expected to travel on Wednesday to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where he will explain to a group of workers, including many truckers, how he believes they will benefit from his tax plan released two weeks ago.

The president is expected to describe how, if his plan became law, truckers would benefit from proposals to lower tax rates for the middle class, cut taxes paid by the manufacturers whose products they transport, create a new tax category and rate for “pass-through” companies, and eliminate a tax paid by the wealthiest 0.2 percent of estates, a senior administration official said.

Trump has said his tax plan would be a “miracle for the middle class” and spur economic growth by creating a better tax climate for businesses.

Independent analysts have said it would provide uneven tax relief, add to the federal budget deficit and, in some cases, benefit the very wealthy.

Taxpayers in the highest 1 percent of incomes, making more than $730,000 annually, for example, would receive about half of the total tax benefit from Trump’s proposed overhaul, with their after-tax income expected to increase an average of 8.5 percent, according to the Tax Policy Center, a Washington-based nonprofit.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted from Sept. 29 to Oct. 5 found that 53 percent of adults “strongly agree” that the wealthiest Americans should pay higher tax rates.

An additional 23 percent “somewhat agree” the wealthiest should pay higher tax rates, according to the poll of 1,504 people, which had a credibility interval, a measure of accuracy, of plus or minus 6 percentage points.

Trump’s tax framework proposed cutting the corporate tax rate to 20 percent from 35 percent and creating a new category for pass-through income earned by partners and sole proprietors, which would be taxed at 25 percent, instead of the 39.6 percent top individual rate currently paid by some.

It also proposed cutting the top individual rate to 35 percent, but the congressional tax-writing committees fleshing out Trump’s plan may opt to create an additional, higher rate for the highest earners.

Trump’s plan also suggested eliminating the 40 percent tax paid on estate assets worth more than $5.5 million, or $11 million for a married couple.

Additional reporting by David Morgan and Eric Beech in Washington and Chris Kahn in New York; Writing by Amanda Becker; Editing by Peter Cooney.